


Is That a Sunburn or a Blush?

by Myoneloveismusic



Series: JayTim Week 2017 [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: JayTim Week, M/M, Sunburn, highschool age au, summer job
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-25
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-12-02 13:44:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11510640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myoneloveismusic/pseuds/Myoneloveismusic
Summary: Jason was always annoyed when Dick's boyfriend came in while they were working. It meant Dick was standing around and just talking for at least an hour while he was left with all the work. But one day Wally brings in his cousin who has a friend with him. And maybe he's not quite so annoyed after that.





	Is That a Sunburn or a Blush?

**Author's Note:**

> JayTim Week Day 2: Summer Job/Sunburn
> 
> Enjoy reading this one! It was a lot of fun to put together! ^.^
> 
> <3 MOLIM

“Wally!”

Jason groaned at the sound of Dick’s voice ringing out in the beachside shack. He’d been more than thankful to have even gotten the job. It meant that he’d get to make some extra cash during the summer now that he was halfway through high school and would be looking at colleges before long. And it meant that he would have a little extra money to spend on books since his mom was getting tired of buying them for him every time a new sci-fi or fantasy novel came out that he liked.

He peeked around the corner from where he was filling drink orders and saw Dick animatedly talking to his boyfriend. He furrowed his brow at the addition of another brunette and dark-haired boy who were standing behind him and talking to each other. Jason sighed and quickly filled the rest of the glasses that he’d have to take out to waiting customers. He’d probably be left flying solo for at least the next hour. What made it worse was that Dick never seemed to get in trouble for spending so long talking to his boyfriend and fucking off on the job.

It probably helped that he was so genuinely bright and happy and the longer that Wally stayed, the more food and drinks he’d buy. Jason knew that Dick did that on purpose because he was totally a manipulative bastard that twisted things to his advantage. When it came to work and avoiding trouble, anyway.

“Dick, don’t just stand there all day and talk to your boyfriend,” Jason said as he walked past him with his tray to keep passing out drinks. “You have an actual job you know and I’m tired of getting left with all the work while you decide to fuck around.” He didn’t even stop to look at the group.

“Jason you should come and introduce yourself to who Wally brought with him,” Dick answered instead.

Jason set down the last drink with a huff and turned to look at Dick. “I should keep working so that I don’t get fired.”

“It’ll only be for a minute, you won’t get fired over that.”

Jason grumbled but walked over to him anyway. He nodded at Wally who smiled back in return.

“This is my cousin, Bart. I think that you’ve met him before.”

“Just once,” Jason said, shrugging. “Hey Bart.”

“Hey, Jason! This is my friend Tim!” He pulled the boy he was with forward so abruptly that he stumbled and his bangs fell into his face, forcing him to brush them aside.

Tim stared up at him for a few moments. “Hi Jason.”

Jason swallowed because Tim was a little too cute. More than anyone had the right to be. “Hi.” His voice cracked and he cleared his throat, embarrassed. “I should get back to work,” he said before rushing off. He tried to argue with himself that it wasn’t because he was going to hide, but all of his reasons fell flat. He was totally running away to hide.

Jason focused on his work the rest of the time Dick spent chatting with Wally. He was okay with it though, because it kept him busy and mostly kept him from sneaking glances in Tim’s direction. Sometimes he would catch him smiling and laughing at something that Bart had said. Other times, he was watching him as he worked, biting his lip or responding to whatever Bart was saying, half-heartedly.

It was one of the reasons why he almost jumped out of his skin when he turned around and found Tim standing there behind him. He nearly let out a shout and clutched his tray close to his chest before relaxing and willing his heartbeat to slow down from the impromptu fright.

“Oh, Tim. It’s you.”

Tim’s lips quirked and Jason was nearly mesmerized by the action. “Sorry, did I scare you?”

Jason held up his thumb and forefinger so they were barely a millimeter apart. “Only a little.”

Tim smiled. “Sorry. I was just hoping to grab a soda to go before we left.”

Jason looked around Tim and found Dick still very much engrossed in a conversation with Wally. “You sure you’re leaving anytime soon?”

“I’m hoping that this’ll be enough to convince them. As much as I would love to spend the rest of my day here, listening to Dick and Wally being grossly in love gets very old, very fast.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “Believe me, I’ve seen it enough times to know exactly how they can be and how much work Dick doesn’t do.”

Tim chuckled and Jason smiled at how easy conversation came between the two of them.

“Follow me over to the counter and I can get you that drink.”

They weaved their way through the tables and Tim leaned against the counter as Jason slid behind it, tucking his tray onto a shelf that was hidden underneath.

“What size do you want?” he asked, reached over towards the cups.

“Smallest you have is fine and make it a coke.”

Jason tried not to focus on where Tim’s forearms were braced against the counter, thankful that he had to turn his back to him to use the soda machine. He filled his cup quickly and stuck on a lid and slid a straw through the plastic. He turned back to Tim and set it in front of him.

“That’ll be $2.”

Tim stuffed one of his hands into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out a handful of crumpled bills. He grabbed to dollar bills from whatever else he was carrying and slid them over the counter to Jason who took them carefully, having to stifle the urge to suck in a breath when their fingers brushed.

“Thanks, Jason,” Tim said, picking up the drink and walking away.

“Yeah, no problem,” he whispered as he watched him walk away. He didn’t even move when Tim caught the attention of everyone else and Wally managed to pull himself away from Dick to leave. Tim shot him one last look and he couldn’t even be embarrassed about being caught staring.

“Well someone seems to have become pretty fond of Bart’s friend,” Dick said, sliding behind the counter next to Jason.

Jason shot him a glare, finally snapping out of his trance even though the group had already been gone for a few minutes. “Yeah, right,” he said, walked back out into the sitting area to take care of customers.

“Oh, don’t think that you can deny it. I saw the two of you looking at each other. You definitely think he’s cute.”

“So what if I do?” Jason asked, picking up empty glasses at abandoned tables now that the rush of customers had started to diminish enough for them to clean up. “What does it matter if I find him attractive?”

“It matters because you should totally ask him out. I’m sure that I could get Wally to bring him back sometime and you two can have a real conversation that doesn’t consist of him ordering a drink and then leaving with his friends.”

“Look, Dick. It doesn’t matter whether I like him or not. Just get back to work and help me with these tables after you did nothing for the past hour except stand around and talk.”

Dick rolled his eyes. “Fine. But I’m not letting this one go. I’ll get you and Tim together even if it kills me.”

“Good luck with that, Dickhead. You’re going to be waiting a long time.”

Jason did his best to keep himself focused for the rest of his shift, but his mind kept wandering back to Tim even when he was rushing around to fill orders. He wondered where he was on the beach and what he was doing with Bart. He wondered if they were swimming in the ocean or laying in the Sun to try and get tan. There were only so many days that they could enjoy it and darken their skin before the school year was set to start again after all. He was so distracted by his thoughts that he couldn’t even be bothered by the women, and sometimes men, who shamelessly stared at him.

Normally the attention would make him uncomfortable because they were so much older than him and he was still in high school. His growth spurt that had happened the year before had made him extremely self-conscious about his new height. He’d gotten used to it for the most part and didn’t trip over his own two feet or run into doorways as much, but there were still times, especially when he caught people staring, that it would dredge up awkward early teenage feelings.

A lot of his new confidence had come when he’d started going to the gym. It gave him a better understanding of his body and he felt more capable in himself, especially as he started to build muscle and bulked up. Dick had joked that he was only doing it for the ladies, but he knew about the confidence issues that he’d gone through and thought that it was a good thing for him to find some way to motivate himself.

Jason tried to push the thoughts of Tim from his head. He left work after the shack closed and went straight to the gym as he usually did. He plugged in his headphones and cranked up his music, working to block out all of his thoughts and was thankful that he was successful for the most part. He chastised himself for doing more than he should have, but when he fell into his bed that night and was able to pass out almost immediately, he couldn’t find himself to care because it meant that his thoughts wouldn’t keep him up late.

The next day offered a nice dip in the temperature and gave the workers at the shack a break from the humidity that sometimes plagued them as they were working. The light breeze that was blowing in from the ocean and the fans that were hooked up in the different corners of the eating area helped to keep everyone cool, especially when the workers couldn’t dash off to jump into the water to cool off like the customers could. Jason was just glad that the dress code was relaxed enough so he wasn’t dying from the heat.

The number of people that filed into the shack was surprising and kept them all busy with getting out orders and making sure that everyone was served. They weren’t even lucky enough to have the usual afternoon lag after everyone got lunch and before customers started to show up for snacks and more drinks.

It was probably why he was most surprised to turn around and find Tim waiting at the counter with Bart.

“Tim!” Jason blurted.

“Hi Jason,” he said, smiling.

Jason cleared his throat. “Back again, I see. What can I get you two today?”

“Two cokes and a large order of chili cheese fries,” Bart said, jumping in.

“Right,” he said, inputting the order on the register. “That’ll be $8.48.”

Bart slid over a ten dollar bill and Jason placed it into the register before handing back his change and receipt.

“Go ahead and take a seat and we’ll have it right out.”

Bart was already walking away before he even got the words out of his mouth.

“Thanks Jason,” Tim said as he followed after his friend to a table on the far side of the shack.

Jason swallowed and forced himself to turn around and add the order to the lineup for the kitchen.

“Hey, look who’s back!” Dick said, coming up behind him and throwing an arm around his shoulders.

Jason immediately shrugged off his limb and moved away to fill their drinks. “Yeah, so what?”

“So what?” Dick asked, raising an eye conspiratorially. “So you should ask him for his number! Or out to lunch, at least. You just met for the first time yesterday and he’s already come back.”

“I’m not doing that,” he said, snapping the plastic lids onto the two cups. He grabbed two straws and moved out from behind the counter, walking purposefully through the tables to where he’d seen Tim and Bart sit down. “Here you go,” he said, sitting them down and handing over the straws. “Your order of fries has been put in and should be out soon.”

“Thanks Jason,” Tim said, sliding one of the straws over to him.

Jason nodded once before walking away. He glanced at Dick who as obviously watching him, but ignored his gaze as best he could. He heard the bell ring behind him and turned to help the next customer in line, but Dick slid in front of him.

“You should take that order out to table 16, don’t you think?” he asked with a wink.

Jason glared, but turned to pick up the basket of fries. He skirted around the edge of the counter and made his way back through the tables, making a mental note of which ones needed to be cleaned after customers had left when he wasn’t looking. Tim looked up at him expectantly as he approached with their food while Bart continued on, guiding the conversation and doing most of the talking.

“Your fries,” he said, setting the basket down between them.

“Thanks,” Tim said, scratching the back of his head.

Jason smiled and turned back to find Dick grinning widely at him. He rolled his eyes and picked up empty glasses and plates on his trip back.

“Go clean the empty tables and shut up.”

Dick didn’t stop smiling at him the rest of the day. Especially after he dropped the change he was counting when he caught Tim smiling at him before he left.

The days continued to pass. Some were better than others. Some were hotter than others. And they even got the occasional day off of work because of a really bad thunderstorm that was passing over Gotham. They couldn’t exactly run the shack when there was a downpour and lightning. And there wouldn’t be anyone at the beach either so the owners would’ve just been losing money.

Tim would stop in every time that he was at the beach, or that’s what Jason thought with the amount of times that he saw him. And Dick never failed to tease him over it. Whenever that happened, Jason did his best to get back at Dick when Wally came to talk to him. Sometimes he succeeded and sometimes he didn’t. Most of the time when he failed it was because Tim was there with Wally and Bart and he was practically tripping over himself.

And then the day came when Tim came in alone. And Jason couldn’t help but notice the red tint to his skin that was unmistakable. He came up to the counter and smiled in the way he usually did when he saw Jason, lips quirking up in the corners, barely biting his lip, and eyes shining bright. He walked over to the counter and leaned up against it, shoulders hunching forward towards Jason as he crossed his arms.

“Hi Jason,” he greeted.

“You look like you got a little bit of sun,” Jason said, nodding towards his shoulders.

Tim held out his arms and inspected them, wincing slightly at the bright color. “Yeah, I forgot to put on sunscreen the other day and now I’m paying the price.”

Jason smiled wryly. “You shouldn’t be out in the Sun when you’ve already been burned. Or you should wear a shirt.”

Tim shrugged. “I have a shirt back with my towel and everything else. And if I didn’t come out, then I wouldn’t be able to stop by and see you here.”

Jason blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, I guess.”

“But I appreciate your concern.”

“Shut up. What can I get you today? The usual coke to go?” he asked, turning towards the cups.

“And an ice cream.”

“Sure thing.” Jason filled the cup quickly and passed it over the counter and reached into the freezer to pull out one of the prewrapped ice cream cones that were always popular with customers who were looking for a quick treat to cool themselves down.

Tim took the cone from his hand and set it top down on the counter so the cone was sticking in the air as he dug into the pocket of his shorts for his wallet.

“How much is it?” he asked, pulling his wallet free.

“It’s-“

“It’s on the house!” Dick exclaimed, sticking out his head from the back room.

Tim stared at him, eyes wide and fingers hovering over the bills that he was getting ready to leaf through. His brow furrows as his hands dipped slightly. “Really?”

“Yeah! Take it!” Dick said, reinforcing his point before disappearing around the corner.

Tim was frowning slightly as he stuffed his wallet back into his pocket and picked up his drink and ice cream. “Tell Dick I said thanks, I guess.”

Jason was also watching the place where he’d just disappeared. “Yeah, sure thing…”

“I’ll see you later,” he said, giving the corner one last look before walking away.

As soon as Tim was out of sight, Dick peeked around the corner and found Jason still watching him.

“Dick…what was that?” he asked, still trying to figure out what had just transpired.

“I was trying to help you out, man. You’ve got to be a little more forward if you want Tim to know that you like him.”

“What do you mean if I want Tim to know that I like him?”

“I mean exactly that! Be a little more open! Or finally work up the courage to ask him out on a date. It’s obvious that he likes you, too. Start buying his food when he comes in. He’s certainly here enough, both with Bart and by himself.”

Jason shook his head, unable to believe that they were actually having this conversation. “I don’t even know what to say with this.”

“You don’t have to say anything, just ask him out the next time you see him. If you don’t act now, he’s probably going to lose interest because you keep sending him mixed signals.”

Jason just shook his head and moved out from behind the counter to go and start collecting glasses. “Whatever. Just get back to work since Wally’s not hanging around here for once.”

“Wally!” Dick exclaimed, perking up.

Jason groaned as he caught sight of the redhead at the entrance to the shack. He shook his head and got back to work, taking care of all of the tables that Dick was supposed to take care of and would just be neglected if Jason didn’t do something about it. At least it was the middle of the afternoon and they didn’t have a large crowd. There was one thing he could say about Wally’s visits: they were strategically timed.

“Hey Jason, do you mind taking out the trash?” Dick asked as he stepped out from the back room.

Jason raised an eyebrow. “Why can’t you do it?” he asked.

“Please? I’ll do it the next two times, I promise.”

Jason crossed his arms. “You mean, you’ll do it the next two times if Wally isn’t here to distract you.”

“Glad you’re okay with it! Here you go,” he said thrusting a trash bag at him before walking away.

Jason shook his head, fighting down the urge to smack Dick with one of the serving trays and headed towards the back door. At least he didn’t have to walk very far to get to the dumpster that they used. He started to push the back door to the shack open, but stopped when he heard the soft murmurs of voices. He pushed the door open slightly and saw that it was Bart and Tim who were talking. Tim was still holding his drink and unopened ice cream.

“I’m telling him, man, you should just ask him out!” Bart huffed, obviously annoyed.

“Why? He probably doesn’t even like me!” Tim argued back.

“Dude you keep telling me that, but I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about. He totally likes you! He can’t take his eyes off of you whenever you’re in the place!”

“I’m sure that doesn’t mean anything…” he trailed off weakly.

“And didn’t you just get a free drink and ice cream?”

“I told you that was because of Dick. Jason was just the one who was giving my order to me.”

“Well if it took Dick saying that to make it happen, then Jason definitely likes you! It wouldn’t have happened otherwise and he was probably too nervous to do it himself.”

“I’m sure that people ask him out all the time at work. It would just be creepy if I was another one of those people.”

“No it wouldn’t be,” Bart started as Jason shoved the door open, having heard all that he needed.

“No it wouldn’t be.”

Tim whirled around at the sound of his voice.

“Jason! Oh, um…how much did you hear?” he asked, blush spreading quickly across his cheeks.

“I heard enough to know that you like me and that Bart was trying to convince you to ask me out.”

“Oh-oh. Look sorry about that. I’m not trying to be creepy and I was telling him-“

“So you should.”

“I’m sorry…what?” Tim asked, eyes going wide.

“You should ask me out.”

“But wouldn’t you find that weird? I mean, you work here all day and I don’t want to be one of those weird customers that you get. It would just make things awkward and then you’d start avoiding me…”

“No, I wouldn’t,” Jason said, stepping further outside even with the bag of trash clutched tightly in his hand. He didn’t know where all of his confidence was coming from especially since he was talking to Tim and was holding a bag of garbage, but he wasn’t going to question it, just use it to his advantage. “So you should ask me out, because I would definitely say yes.”

“Wait, really?!” Tim asked, eyes going wide as he excitedly took a step forward.

Jason chuckled and felt a blush bloom to life across his own cheeks. He scratched his cheek, embarrassed. “Yeah, yeah I would.”

“Jason?” Tim asked.

“Yeah?”

“Will you go out with me?”

Jason looked up and took in Tim’s easy smile and brightly shining eyes and smiled himself.

“Yes.”

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback, comments, and kudos are always loved and appreciated!
> 
> Tumblr: my-one-love-is-music.tumblr.com
> 
> Twitter: twitter.com/m_o_l_i_m


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